Energy has been a hot topic within DoD for the last several years, with each of the military services pledging to reduce their overall consumption and get at least 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.

In this week's Inside the DoD Reporter's Notebook, the Army wants its soldiers to have healthy exercise, nutrition and sleep routines and DoD energy use falls to lowest level on record. Also in this edition...

The National Park Service is putting in place 81 energy efficiency and water conservation projects in parks throughout the D.C. metropolitan area. Lisa Mendelson is the Acting Regional Director for the National Capital Region at the National Park Service. She joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with details the scope of the project that will install new intelligent bulbs, sprinklers and solar power across the region's hundreds of parks and landmarks in 2015.

Green investments to federal buildings are showing double-digit energy savings, according to the General Services Administration. They're looking at the effects of some energy upgrades. Ruth Cox is a senior sustainability official, and Walter Tersch is a program analyst at the General Services Administration. On In Depth with Francis Rose, they broke down the success of the green updates.

The government wants to go green and it's soliciting employee suggestions to help do it. It's a top-to-bottom effort though, as federal agencies also released their annual sustainability plans and the President announced a new GreenGov Symposium.

The General Services Administration plans to have draft governmentwide policies for reusing and recycling used electronics by the end of this fiscal year. Kevin Kampschroer, deputy senior sustainability official for GSA, announced the agency's efforts at the release of the updated national strategy for sustainable electronics.

The Defense Department isn't following one of its own roadmaps. Back in 2012, defense planners devised a plan for protecting bases and installations from the potentially damaging effects of climate change. That's all started to affect DoD's planning, but there's a lot more to do. Brian Lepore is the director of Defense Capabilities and Management at the Government Accountability Office. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss what the roadmaps mean.

The Postal Service's mail delivery vehicles are in dire need of replacement, but the agency doesn't have enough money to buy a new fleet. In a new report, the USPS Inspector General said the agency's current fleet will only allow it to sustain delivery operations through fiscal 2017.

The White House wants agencies to double their use of renewable energy. Agencies have until 2016 to come up with $2 billion in energy savings
performance contracts above and beyond what they've already committed to. Dorothy
Robyn is the former commissioner of the Public Buildings Service at the General
Services Administration. She joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss what agencies can do to take on this new push.

The Army broke ground last week on what will become the Defense Department's largest solar energy project ever. The Fort Huachuca, Ariz., solar project will provide the Army with renewable energy at no additional cost to the government. As Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu reports, the Army sets aside dozens of acres of southern Arizona land for the solar panels. In exchange for the land, a local utility company will build and operate them. Read Federal News Radio's related article.

The Fort Huachuca, Ariz., solar project will provide the Army with renewable energy at no additional cost to the government. The solar panels are expected to provide 18 megawatts of electricity, enough to light a small-sized city.

The Army breaks ground Friday on a giant solar array at sunny Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Once built, it will provide about a quarter of the energy needed to power the mid-sized base. It will be the largest solar project in the military's portfolio for a while. Amanda Simpson, executive director for the U.S. Army's Energy Initiatives Task Force, described the scope of the project to Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp.